The CEPF investment strategy for West Africa builds on priority areas and actions identified during the Conservation Priority-Setting Workshop held in Elmina, Ghana, in 1999. Consensus recommendations from the 140 participants created a blueprint for conservation investment in the region that addresses the most pressing threats to the forests and coastal zones of the six-country area. Drawing on the expertise of conservationists, biologists, ecologists, economists, sociologists, and planners, the CPW examined biological criteria within a socioeconomic context. By highlighting biological diversity and species endemism against a backdrop of threats to their continued existence, CPW results point to the most important sites for conservation and the issues that must be confronted to conserve them: lack of institutional and human capacity, destructive land-use practices, limited conservation awareness, underdeveloped environmental processes, and weak governance.
By stepping beyond a set of recommendations that is exclusively biological, the CPW results illustrate the broad approach that must be taken among institutions and sectors if natural environments are to be conserved in West Africa. For environments to function properly, supporting a full complement of species and providing a wide range of goods and service, multiple roles and initiatives must converge in new ways. That convergence is already beginning, with similar goals and needs assessments appearing independently within the strategies of a wide range of donor agencies, NGOs, and governments. Linking these varied convergences of mission with specific actions in the region through the collaborative work of alliances is the primary focus of CEPF.
CEPF is intended to provide a rapid response to conservation needs, to complement initiatives already underway, and to stimulate wider participation in conservation in West Africa. Immediate actions now to "hold the line" on the biodiversity crisis, stabilize protection, and to begin building alliances to rescue the hotspot will establish a positive trend toward the long-term vision of ecosystem health and stability in a region eager for solutions.
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